Before you proceed reading my TL, I'd like to thank JP Morgan and everyone on the Castile and Portugal Merge thread for inspiring me to write this TL.
Now enjoy:
Chapter One
The Beginning:
It was a sunny morning outside. So it was no surprise that the sun peeked its rays through a gap in the curtains that had been left there by a lazy servant. Anyone who was sleeping in the affected room when this happened would have been woken by the ray of light and warmth. This would have been no different from any other wakeup call, except that the subject of it was a Prince. Royalty is used to sleeping in as late as they choose, so Alfonso was quite tired when he arose from his bed.
Being woken earlier than he would have, Alphonso remembered to grab his handgun before going out riding with his valet. And so, history was changed forever....
* * *
"It seems hard to believe history was so drastically changed by such an inconspicous POD." A student said skeptically.
"Well, look at Timeline L where the POD was King George tripping at his coronation. PODs do not have to be monumental, but they can be tremendous none the less. Would you mind if I continued with the lesson?" the peeved proffesor snapped.
"Yes sir."
"Okay. We proceed."
* * *
July 13th, 1491
As his horse galloped alongside the steed of Prince Alfonso, the royal valet pulled the matchlock on his pistol. He did this as inconspicously as he could, but some things don't go to plan. The Prince's head snapped to his right as he caught the sight of the weapon. The valet's mouth opened into a grimace of rage as the Prince raised his own weapon. And fired.
* * *
"Now do you see where I am going?" the professor asked with a sneer.
"Yes sir." the student said grudgingly.
* * *
The attempted murder of Prince Alfonso shocked everyone on the palace grounds. Guards protected members of the royal house constantly from then on. News of the attempted murder spread like wildfire (for the time) through Iberia. By the end of October (that's quick by medieval standards) every noble in Spain and Portugal had heard of the incident.
King John II of Portugal blamed the Castilians (at this time the Castilians and Aragonese are still mostly considered as seperate. He demanded that they not interfere with Portuguese politics.
The reply was anything but rewarding. Another assassin attacked a noble, but it was anything but just an attempt.
On November 17th, King John II was killed by a Castilian assassin. The incident touched off the war of Portuguese succession. On one side is Spain, on the other Portugal and its (theroretical) ally, England.
The Spanish refuse to recognize Alfonso as the new king of Portugal on hte basis that he was heir to both Portugal and Spain. The war rages in the region of Spain formerly known as Castile. The Aragonese army was used to a minimum because they were convinced it was not their war. The Castilian army abandoned its war with Granada as it percieved Portugal as the greater threat. The weakness was anticipated by Alfonso, who contacted Muhammad XII of Granada for an alliance against Spain.
After being at war with Spain as the underdog for many years, this seemed too good to be true for many Granadans. The alliance was heartily agreed to. When the Granadans began arriving in Spaing, Aragonese soldiers started joinging the fracas, but it was too late to make a difference. They were outgunned, outmanned, outmanuevered, and outdone.
Meanwhile, in Spain, Queen Isabella refused once again Christopher Columbus's proposal. Columbus eventually abandoned his hope, and was killed by a stray arrow during the Battle of Madrid, 1493.
These past couple of years the Portuguese/Granadan army was making great progress through Spain. In 1499, after Queen Isabella was brutally murdered by Portuguese soldiers. Leaving no direct heirs, the succession was tracked back to Alfonso. After being proved powerless to resist, Aragon surrendered.
The former borders of Castile were added to Portugal, now known as Spain. Aragon recieved its former borders as well, with the subtraction of some southern territory to Granada. Aragon was now a shadow of its former self, ruled by a paranoid king who constantly had fits of terror at every turn. Only its extensive Mediterranean empire was the same...
In Spain, close connections to Granada resulted in a deep involvement with the gold trade with Sub-saharan Africa stemming from the trading bases in enclaves such as Ceuta. Meanwhile in Aragon, caravels similar to the ones Columbus used in OTL explore the eastern Mediterranean and the Black Sea, ready to expand the interests of King Ferdinand.
* * *
"So far, the POD's immediate butterfly effect include an increased interest in exploration on the Aragonese part and no discovery of America. At least not yet. Would anyone care to point out some other predictable repurcussions of the POD?"
"Yes sir. The Portu- I mean Spanish settlements in Africa are bound to swell due to increased trade with sub-Saharan Africa?" one student asked.
The professor grinned. "You hit it on the nose, but not quite deep enough, I fear." The students were left to ponder as the professor prepared for the next lesson.
That was part one! If you noticed any glaring errors, please feel free to comment or PM me. I'm sorry that I can't get a map up yet, I can't figure it out. Tell me what you think!